I know ohlins are the stand-by can't go wrong shock for the gs, but I was wondering who makes the best dirt oriented shock set for the Gs is it still ohlins or are their other options. Need shocks pretty badly but want to research all options first. Personal expieriences and opinions encouraged.
All of us who have replaced our stock shocks have been through this. The bottom line is that you can spend between $800 to $1600 on a set of shocks. For me, I went the $800 way with a set of Fox shocks. You can opt for the ohlins or other brands for around $1,000 to $1,300. Or go with the big dog WP's for $1,600. Price and waiting time may be issues. The FOX and Ohlins are readily available (1 or 2 weeks), some of the other brands may take a while to get, up to 2 or 3 months. Be sure to get the proper spring weight. Lindemann engineering is a good product and price source but difficult to deal with.
As far as I can tell, nobody has done direct comparison of Fox vs. Bitubo vs. Ohlins vs. WP vs. Wilburs. Are there others?
I had an R1100GS with stock Showa's and Ohlins. The Ohlins were much smoother on all terrain compared to the stock shocks.
Yeah, but I think everyone has UNIFORMLY commented that any aftermarket shocks at all kick the ass of the Showas. That we know. Aftermarket is better. But how do the various aftermarket shocks compare? Maybe we'll never know.
Likely not. Unless, you can convice some set of endors to give _you_ every model/brand of shock for _your_ bike. My "Showas" kicked-butt for longer then most on this forum would admit to. But, if you have the money, go ahead and trade out the stock shock's lickety split and sell them to the Penny Tech crowd. Maybe you can donate them to Vance's new venture.
Dang, I think a shock comparo would make a great article, and the BMW GS is just the bike to do it on. Anybody got a contact at one of the MC rags? Larry
In the roadracing world conventional wisdom says Fox=good, Ohlins=better, Penske=best. Don't ask me why, I've had race bikes with Fox and Penske, and the differences were marginal.
Only in AMERICAN road racing- Ohlins rules the world! Besides, Penske doesn't make shocks for the GS, so they're out of the running either way.
Techno-Flex is another Scandiavian manufacturer of suspension products. Lots of European racers use them. technoflex-suspension.net Of course, YMMV. I have Ohlins on mine. -jp
Not sure where you found this urban myth? Explain Rossi and many of the other top boys on SHOWAs??? Go figure.
And while about it go look at HYPERPRO - excellent and affordable Dutch shocks, with good endorsements. Work for me!
>>Not sure where you found this urban myth? Explain Rossi and many of the other top boys on SHOWAs??? Go figure. Easy to figure: They are not on the same kind of Showa's that are OEM's from any bike manufacturer. They are certainly on some VERY special Showa units indeed. Practically all suspension unit manufacturers offer products at various levels of price/performance. For instance, the Ohlins Superbike forks (over $9k) are drastically different from their SuperSport/Street versions (around $2.5k). Has anyone ever seen any Showa items at the extreme end of the price/performance scale that are available to the general public? I haven't, and I look around quite a bit. Naturally, YMMV.
Big Dirty Secret It ain't the same equipment that they sell on the OEM market. Showa makes a lot of shocks. Some are not easily available to the public. Some aren't available to the public at all. Totally custom. I think we're talking about the quality of the OEM Showas here. I bet you think that whathisname wears a stock Joe Rocket leather suit too? And that the helmets that the top racers wear are off the shelf? A fast search didn't come up with a Showa web site. But Showa is a major manufacturer of car and bike shocks. Mostly OEM as far as I can tell. Never seen one as an accessory or aftermarket shock. gbm
Not sure where you got THAT urban myth- because the Doctor is on Ohlins!!! The Hondas run "Showa" but that doesn't mean it has anything to do with the crap that showa shits out for BMW applications.
When I was racing, this was the general feeling among other racers. I think that this is an AMERICAN opinion is probably accurate. Please note that this was not presented as fact, only relaying the opinion heard from countless CLUB racers at countless CLUB races.
Showa got really burned when one of their "special" shocks got claimed after Duhamel's 600cc Supersport win. They valued the shock at $64000, and some guy got the whole bike for like $6500. You can read more about it here. Linky
I have had works shocks on two bikes that were NOT bmw's, and I thought that for the price/value, a good deal. On the BMW I did spring for Ohlins though.
It would be funny if it weren't so expensive- but when you hold a set of (admitedly low end) Ohlins in your hands and are ready to swap out the stock Showas- the difference between the two pieces is astonishing. The materials in the stock shocks look like they came from Mattel- or some Chinese rat hole machine shop. The Ohlins are like jewelry by comparison. How the fuck does BMW get away with that on machines that run $15,000 or more?